To think never again can Americans badge themselves as the good guys

[Decisionsdecisions1]

The millions who voted for Trump will go down in history akin to those who thought Adolf was a great guy.

Those sanctimonious bible belt so called Christians, full of values and morals supposedly, have blood on their hands.
If there is a God, and if there is a Judgement Day, they won't be going anywhere good.

I don't care if they see the error of their ways in decades to come. They didn't just vote for someone who put America First. They voted for someone who put dictators around the world first (and an unelected lunatic in the cabinet).
They have acted to the detriment of the safety and wellbeing of millions. They will not be forgiven.

Just curious as to OPs idea of what makes a country "good guys"?

I watched the first episode and a bit last night just to see what it was like. Wasnt paying full attention. I took a few things from it.

The US town appears a very strong community but the casual intermittent racism needs addressing. The South London school is totally different.

I did like how the mixed race girl from the US felt the racism disappear in London and it really made her happy and more confident.

I also liked how the black 14 yr old boy from the UK (basketball fan) really liked the US. Even though racism existed he did feel safe vs the UK, and well housed with his own bedroom. Just shows that referencing Maslow's hierarchy that things like safety and psychological needs are essential to a kids wellbeing and form the foundation to reach higher levels. Kids actively crave these needs. It's sad that the UK in the 21st century that these needs are unfulfilled.

US based TV shows and movies that we are all exposed to every day are hugely responsible for the 'good guys' narrative. It's a form of propaganda that has been going on for so long most people don't realise it's happening.

Yep. With evil brown people. Right from the time of Indiana Jones.

100% always turkeys and Christmas.

I think the really interesting thing her will be the slow realisation that the unmaking of western dependence on/deference to the US on geopolitical issues will have a fairly rapid undermining of US influence that I don't think the (collective) US mind is anywhere near ready for.

It honestly seems to have come a a shock to many that numerous countries would rather buy (debatably) inferior defence materiel from consistent, reliable allies who won't threaten to choke supply chains or support. It's been instructive to see all the "but F-35s are the far superior plane!" discourse as if issues of trust and reliability don't play significant roles in decision making for these procurements.

Whether there's a sharp correction or whether the US is happy to see the weakening of its defence industries as the standard platforms for NATO and other allied countries will be very interesting to watch.

It's been instructive to see all the "but F-35s are the far superior plane!" discourse as if issues of trust and reliability don't play significant roles in decision making for these procurements.

I've seen that along side a lot of talk round kill switches and software updates and access to data.

Canada - who sovereignty currently being threaten by Trump cancelling F-35 contracts seems obvious to me - yet I think US citizens are more aware of the
tariffs and dismiss the threats about 51 state as Trump being Trump and not as deeply offensive and a threat many Candians view it as.

K.

I agree with a lot of comments on this forum that Trump didnt necessarily win by being popular but because people voted for him by defualt because they saw first hand how the Dems were ruining the country on a number of levels.
One particular thing was the genital mutilation of minors, especially in Democratic states like California. How can any sensible adult agree to this?

How can any sensible (or just any adult) believe this?

Yes more interesting perspective. Going to come back to these posts.

I've seen a few economists suggest that what the Trump administration is trying to do is, in part, stop the dollar from being the reserve currency of the world, lower it's value, and therefore allow room for it's own manufacturing industry to grow.

This would be a painful process, and they have to know it, which is why people freaking out about the short term results isn't going to sway them, it's not a surprise. But a renewed manufacturing base and less reliance on Chinese goods would be result, if it worked.

That, a long with an economic and military alliance with Russia and probably India would counterbalance China, for all of them. Europe would find themselves part of that, or on the fringes of the whole thing.

It seems very risky, but as you say, maybe the only route to avoiding Chinese domination within a century.

What makes you think it's not true?

It's not an unusual scenario, people voting against someone rather than for someone else.

If you talk to Americans a lot of them felt that way. It often seems like the Democrats went out of their way to alienate people and groups of voters.

I mostly like the America First policies of the Trump administration.

He’s certainly shown us and Europe up for being totally weak militarily, it’s embarrassing how reliant we’ve been on them. We’ve literally no chance of protecting Ukraine even though we want to, we are a diminished state and Trump has shone the light on this so for all our sakes I hope he manages to get a deal through with Ukraine and Russia.

We need to take a Trumpian approach and start getting more efficient with spending, stopping the insane levels of immigration and generally finding our national identity again.

I've seen a few economists suggest that what the Trump administration is trying to do is, in part, stop the dollar from being the reserve currency of the world, lower it's value, and therefore allow room for it's own manufacturing industry to grow.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/articles/de-dollarization-what-happens-if-the-dollar-loses-reserve-status

President Donald Trump has also made clear that he plans to take action to support the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency. In fact, Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on any country that opts to trade using alternative currencies.

https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/02/07/trumps-tariff-warnings-against-de-dollarisation-and-a-brics-currency-rhetoric-vs-reality/
January 30, 2025, US President Donald Trump said:
“. They can go find another sucker Nation. There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US Dollar in International Trade, or anywhere else, and any Country that tries should say hello to Tariffs, and goodbye to America!”
...

Trump’s recent warning to countries going in for de-dollarisation is linked to his “America First strategy”. Action against countries trading in local currencies will not be easy and individuals within his team may advise him against the same. Washington also needs to understand that several countries have opted for trade in local currencies, due to the imposition of sanctions on Russia. If these sanctions are removed or even relaxed, several countries may avoid trade in local currencies. Apart from several other reasons, one of the key factors why several countries are eagerly waiting for a solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict is the complication of economic linkages with Russia due to the stringent sanctions imposed by Washington.

It could be a case of saying you do not want de -dollarisation - dollar stoppiong being the world reseve currancy - but actually wanting it behind closed doors.

At same time a lot of investement money needed to expand any US manufactoring base apparently not liking the current uncertainty in US.

Doesn’t the previous administration hold some responsibility for people voting for Trump?

After issues like Biden’s health, the handling of gender and immigration, it is no wonder that some Americans voted for change rather than Trump per se. It was the same in our last general election- many votes were tactical because people wanted change rather than a true belief that Labour would do a better job.

Oh way before Indiana Jones @Lentilweaver.

Doesn’t the previous administration hold some responsibility for people voting for Trump?

They absolutely do - it's both party problem.

Lying about a clearly unwell Biden - it was just gaslighting. I remember some US posters bemusment that UK forum had so many agreeing he wasn't fit and accusing us all of being right wing idiots - and all taken in by right wing propaganda rather than us seeing how bad he was via our own news networks.

Absolutely they do.

The Dems dropped that ball good and proper.

I agree the Americans were never really the 'good guys' to begin with. They did feel like allies though and perhaps that's what's changed.

This makes sense. I have questioned whether China is meant to be ‘bad’ or ‘good’ using op’s black and white phrases, and often it’s built up either way, but a lot of what they do is simply invest. Everywhere.

That takes two to tango, we sell to a high bidder who might be a Chinese investor.

On defence is over relying on the US in the ‘good’ section? Seems not really. Europe has coasted with that.

We are seeing major shifts that is true.

Do you think that they will ever release the truth about Biden’s health the same way that they released the JFK files today ? I’m talking decades in the future but it’s a very concerning and massive topic that could have easily had massive implications on the whole world.

I expect the Trump administration sees Europe as an annoying pain in the arse - not paying its way militarily, demanding, condescending, increasingly irrelevant.

There are potentially much better alliances for them to forge.

It was a huge mistake for Europe to make themselves so dependent on American military capacity. We're finding that out to our cost.

One of his staffers will probably write a book at some point.

We barely saw him after the election loss and I don't recall seeing him in the media since the election.

Don't get me wrong, Trump is old. In fact he is older now I think at the start of his term than Reagan was at the end of his.

I am though a bit impressed at his stamina. His visibility is far higher than Bidens, and he seems to be going from meeting after meeting and engaging with the world on multiple fronts simultaneously, in sharp contrast to Biden. He definitely has his senior moments though as you'd probably expect from someone almost 80 years old.

Biden as a second term now watching Trump is almost unimaginable.

I think that there is also an interesting story behind the Biden resignation weekend too. Do Americans really believe that he went from determined to run for President again to resigning so fast ? It’s a storyline that I’d expect from House of Cards or something.

I suspect it was his team pushing to carry on more than him.

I am guessing a "senior Democrat figure" or group basically read him/his team the riot act and told them he had to fold. Who that person was I don't know.

Then there was the issue of not replacing Harris for a better candidate. But I think there were some logistical/funding reasons as to why that would have been very difficult.

The whole thing was horribly mismanaged from time zero. I still don't believe that Biden took on the presidency ever thinking he was going to do a single term then hand it over.

Some worthwhile observations, most of which I agree with, and many which I personally have learnt lessons from.

The Biden dementia situation like someone said was a farce, imagine the mainstream media in the US and UK saying there was nothing wrong with him for years when it was obvious to anybody on X who watched a few clips of him he wasn't all there. Like a poster said anyone onjecting was labelled a conspiracy theorist or far right. It's nuts. It also shows how much the MSM is captured, there isnt news anymore its propaganda even if they know a chunk of the target audience know it to be false. But we knew that already after Covid19.

What retaining Biden in place did is undermined the established democratic process, the dems never went through a selection process like normal, instead they intentionally waited till the last minute and parachuted in Kamala. Why? because they knew deep down that Kamala was their best shot and holding her up to the selection scrutiny would highlight her flaws. Everything was on her side too, the majority of the media was captured and woke, including major newspapers, she had something like support of 89 billionaires vs Trumps 53 (cant exactly remember) and the support of a lot of Hollywood celebs and pop stars.

I read somewhere the dems spent nearly $600m on election staffing costs. Trump meanwhile £10m.

Everything was on Kamala's side, and she still lost not only the Presidency by a relative landslide but the house and the senate too.

Finally someone seemed to question my note that children were previously being genetically mutilated in the US. The left might not like to hear this but it definitely occurred a lot. The below is probably one of the most popular stories.

nypost.com/2024/11/22/us-news/jeff-youngers-ex-can-proceed-with-gender-affirming-care-of-preteen-son/